Acornum- A Planar Chaos Story
by NoisyKrickett
Summary: The plane of Acornum has drawn Odom and Kyari to its mystical realm of magic after the ending of the Portal Saga. A plane without humans, Acornum is a rarity in the multiverse. Unicorns hold a special place in the collective minds of the plane's inhabitants. Whispers of an ancient cataclysm that sent all but five unicorns from the world pique the planeswalkers' interests.
1. Chapter 1

Planar Chaos

Planar Profiles: Acornum

Acornum is a world steeped in magic divided into several major regions, each inhabited by a particular race tied to a different form of magic. The plane's name comes from the special place Unicorns hold among the beasts of Acornum, but their numbers plummeted generations ago. Today only five of the original herd remain and they are revered as near deities by the other races of Acornum. The event that caused the other unicorns to disappear became known as the Sealing of Acornum, although its details are uncertain.

Atalanta the Dreamer (UR) resides on a volcanic island that she never physically leaves, according to stories. This mysterious unicorn supposedly spends her days at a divination pool and her nights blessing the dreams of those who appear in her prophecies. She survived the sealing by hiding herself on her island, but now it is theorized that she is trapped there. The dwarves, whose territory she resides near, consider her their greatest treasure and fiercely defend the island from intruders.

Jewel the Valorous (RW) lives on the edges of multiple civilizations in a desert. He sports scars down his side and a crack in his horn from fighting off the war hounds who rounded up the unicorns to be sealed away in some far off place. Many seek his blessing for their endeavors, but he will only give it if one's intentions are noble and their hearts are true. Jewel does not hesitate to kill those who would use his blessings for evil.

Shalkan the Seeker (UG) makes his home near the lively tropical mangroves on a rocky beach covered in wave-smoothed stones that sparkle like a rainbow of gems. He managed to escape the sealing by binding himself to an elven Druid as a familiar, something the other unicorns look down on as beneath their station. Shalkan is an amiable sort who freely approaches travelers to teach them the ways of the land and sea. He can often be found staring out at the seafolk infested ocean as though he is looking for something.

Arabella Resurrected (GB) perished during the sealing, choosing to end her life in the deep bog where faeries buried their dead. She has been born anew in the never ending cycle of death and rebirth and has made it her duty to protect that cycle from abuse. She is far more secretive than her peers, choosing to remain in the bog or deep woods and limit her interactions with all but the faerie queen. Sometimes she leaves the bog and enters the thick woods inhabited by the faeries. Aside from their natural inhabitants, she is the only creature able to navigate the tangle of trees to find clearing and meadows inhabited by her worshippers.

Amalthea the Regretful (BW) roams wherever she feels she is needed, but can often be found in the lands of the elves. She survived the sealing by being transformed into an elven girl by a wizard. Before she was transformed back, however, she fell in love with an elven prince. Torn by her love for the prince and the torture she endured in a mortal body, Amalthea finally made her choice to return to her true form. The prince was stripped of his memories, but Amalthea continued to carry the burden of her past and a longing to return. Those who encounter her are asked whether they wished to return to their past at the expense of their future.

The five main races who inhabit Acornum are the elves, dwarves, faeries, dryads/treefolk, and the seafolk, an amalgamated kingdom of sirens, merfolk, and harpies. This plane does not have human inhabitants, an occurrence theorized by Kyari Alexiona to be related to the plane's large amounts of magic transforming what would be protohumans into the seafolk races.

The elves (UW) have long since abandoned the forests for their high-walled cities. These bastions of civilization dot the central plain as small city-states, and most are built near rivers or other bodies of water for agricultural purposes. Life inside these cities is well-regimented, with things being kept on track by the Enchanters, and elite class of wizards who rule the Elfstone Confederation of city-states. The head of the Enchanters is Aelwe Patris, a gifted wizard with an unruly daughter named Lanara. Small rebel groups of elves who wish a return to the race's roots in nature have abandoned the city-states and taken to the forests to live as their ancestors once did. The Enchanters are wary of these rebels, and suspect an attack on one of their city-states any day now. Scouts mounted upon rocs soar overhead keeping tabs on known rebel camps and the dryads. Birds play an important role in many aspects of everyday life and can often be seen accompanying wizards in their studies. Owls are particularly popular amongst the Enchanters and other officials.

The dwarves (RB) were once great artificers who rapidly used up all the resources in their mountainous home. Many of their greatest treasures were lost in misguided wars with dragons or hastily melted into weapons that were broken and reforged multiple times. While most of the dragon clans have been wiped out, a few still live in the mountains among the bones of their kin. The greed of the dwarves knows no bounds, and it is exemplified in their king, Turann the Dragonsick. Dwarven legend states it was the ancestor of their king who hid away the unicorns by rounding them up with his mighty hounds and sealing them away somewhere only he knew how to reach. The true knowledge died with this ancestor, and now the dwarves jealously guard their last unicorn, Atalanta. Seeking the Unicorn's Vault, as the mythical place of sealing is known, has claimed many a dwarven life but it hasn't stopped King Turann's son from striking out on his own to try. Very little lives in the ruined mountains anymore aside from lizards and scavengers that can eke out a living. The dwarves have been eyeing other regions for their rich farmland and other treasures as their own home is drained more and more.

The fairies (GW) are unique among faerie types on planes. These are not mischievous bugs, but kind-hearted nature lovers in a spiritual alliance with the dryads. Their queen, Glynta, works closely with the unicorn Arabella to maintain the cycle of death and rebirth in the forest. Faeries are stronger together than they are apart, although the help of a faerie-hound (a small creature Kyari Alexiona describes as "a fat sausage of a dog with short legs, perky ears, stubby tail, and a cute snout" but readers should recognize as a Welsh Corgi) as a mount never hurts their abilities. As the years have worn on, Queen Glynta has begun to include her daughter, Feyrun, in the relevant ceremonies. Their thick forest home exists apart from the primary forest inhabited by the dryads.

The dryads and treefolk (GR) are an entirely female, warlike race of nature spirits. Years ago they fought a large-scale war with the elves defending their territories from encroachment and have been living in an uneasy peace. Many elven rebels have found a home with the dryads, who merge with their trees and become treefolk as they age. Their current warrior queen, Daphne, is quite young by their standards, only beginning to merge with her home-tree in the last decade or so. The location of the queen's home-tree is a closely guarded secret, for if a dryad's tree is cut down then she will die. The position of queen is not hereditary since dryads and treefolk technically do not have children in the traditional sense. A single tree can mother dozens of children and father dozens more just based on plant biology. Each of those trees must survive a minimum amount of time before a dryad emerges fully grown. The current heir apparent is Yldan, a fiery sapling of a girl. Many beasts inhabit these forests, but all know which trees to avoid.

The seafolk (UB) live beyond the edges of the mangroves on the rocky barrier islands and reefs shielding this stretch of coast from the open sea. Merfolk, Sirens, and Harpies make up their numbers but their ruler is the harpy Celaeno. They rarely allow ships to venture near their homes, calling storms, entrancing sailors, or making the seas roil to bring vessels to their doom. Little is known about their culture(s) or physiology since they are highly secretive, but the general consensus is that the seafolk are hiding something. Explorers have found little beyond the barrier islands except for large monsters that seem to come at the beck and call of the merfolk.

Kyari Alexiona has taken an interest in this plane due to its unique set of circumstances and lack of humans. She visits periodically to conduct surveys of life and chronicle how the plane is progressing. Of particular note to this planeswalker naturalist is how the mana flow of the plane seems to be out of place, like something is siphoning it into the sea between the mangroves and barrier islands.

Odom has struck up a friendship with the amiable Shalkan, who considers the eccentric biomancer to be the latest in a line of magically-inclined mortals to work with. Perhaps this one's strange magic will help the unicorn finally find what he's been looking for.

 **AN: I'm so excited to finally bring this to you all. I've been working on Acornum for years at this point, pulling different color identity influences from different sets/blocks/planes to build out a unique High Fantasy world with plenty of (obvious) literary, mythological, and even video game influences. I've got a great, super involved story coming up with even more original characters for the Chaos Crew to interact with, and we might even see them interacting with each other for a bit without a major PC character as part of it. Think of this as my foray into the world of MTG novels. :P**


	2. Chapter 2

Planar Chaos

Acornum

Part One

Dahnivan Trent hid in the bushes of this new world on which he found himself. Despite his attempts to rationalize what happened, he could not force himself to believe this was the Rubblebelt or the Gruul badlands of Ravnica. This was old growth forest the likes of which his home plane hadn't seen in millennia. Thick, twisting branches laden with broad leaves blocked out the sun. The undergrowth caught and snagged at his clothes, tearing more holes in his tattered cape. The forest seemed to know that he was a foreign entity and actively hindered his progress.

It had been feminine voices that made him hide in this bush, some extraplanar relative of the sharp hollies that were popular for geometric topiary on Ravnica. From his hiding spot, Dahni peeked between the prickling leaves and watched the women come into view.

Women was a generous term. These were young girls, no older than Dahni himself, in the throes of adolescence. There was something different about them, though. They walked with a measured grace and the forest seemed to part before them. Dahni had never seen dryads with green skin before, but their bark-like body coverings and thick leafy hair meant they couldn't be anything else.

"This area of the forest," one asked a taller member of their group. This central figure's bark armor was gray in color and her hair-leaves were a crown of autumn. She seemed to be their leader.

"Mother said she sensed a new presence here," the autumn-crowned dryad replied to her smaller, greener companion.

"Are we sure Daphne was correct? I don't see any new growth capable of producing a dryad yet,Yldan."

"She's almost entirely fused with her birth tree. I wouldn't question a queen on the cusp of becoming one with the forest," Daphne snapped.

Dahni noticed the spears they carried, fashioned from dead wood but hardened somehow until they shone. He examined these dryads closely, taking the necessary steps to alter his shape until he resembled the smallest and greenest of the dryads. The only defining feature of Dahni's that remained was the tattered cloak, wrapped around her shoulders like a security blanket.

She stirred and the dryads' heads snapped in her direction. She awkwardly stood, taking a few shaky steps on legs made of living wood. The smaller of the dryads rushed forward and caught Dahni before she fell over.

"Hello, new sister," the dryad said warmly. She noticed the cloak. "Where did you ever get this?"

"Found it," Dahni said in her new voice, a musical tone similar to the other dryads. "I like it."

"Bring her here," the tallest one, Yldan, said. She examined this new dryad closely. "Where did you come from? Where is your tree?"

Dahni's eyes widened. She needed a backstory. These dryads were prepared for conflict, wearing armor and carrying weapons fashioned from the forest around them. "I got chased," she stammered. "I lost my way."

Daphne's eyes flashed. "Damned elves! They think they can encroach on our forest again? You must come speak with my mother, and tell her everything."

"I don't remember much," Dahni said, bringing a hand to her leaf-covered scalp. "I hit my head pretty hard on a rock when I was running."

"Poor thing," one of the other dryads said, running a hand through Dahni's leaves sympathetically. "What's your name? I'm Saffron, this is Vynia, Anise, and this is Yldan Heartswood, heir apparent to Queen Daphne."

"My name is Dahni," Dahni said in what she hoped was a timid tone. This area seemed to operate under a dryad matriarchy. She needed to maintain her disguise as long as possible in order to gather enough information to understand the kind of world in which she found herself. This wasn't a problem for Dahni. She'd always enjoyed being female for different assignments. There were advantages to this form for espionage. Rarely was she ever searched as thoroughly as her coconspirators when the Boros Legion caught them in the act. Azorius law magic could see contraband through clothes, but the fumbling hands of a Wojek knight too chivalrous to even properly execute a pat down were an advantage to novice Dimir agents.

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A lone unicorn swam through the mangroves and climbed up onto the rainbow-pebbled beach. He shook the seawater from his pale gray coat tinted blue and green by the sun's reflections off the water and partially submerged trees. His kind, curious eyes found Odom standing on the beach in bewilderment.

"Hail, friend," Shalkan said, trotting up to Odom. "I thought I would get to meet your lady friend this time."

"Hey, Shalkan," Odom said. "I don't know what happened. Ash and I left together, but she didn't make it I guess."

"Have you heard any whispering of my missing comrades in your walks between worlds?"

"I haven't, no. Ash was always more intent on the studying aspect of things than I am. I was hoping she'd be able to help me figure out where they could have gone."

"We can do what we can together until your friend arrives. I have faith in our abilities. This time we will find them."

"You're always so optimistic, Shal," Odom said, draping his tree-like arm over the unicorn's back. The unicorns of this plane were smaller than a standard horse, certainly not big enough for a full grown man like himself to ride. He thought Shalkan would even have a hard time carrying Ash, assuming the unicorn would allow such a thing. Shalkan had bound himself to an elven Druid in the past, so perhaps his relationships with mortals were better than the other unicorns'. They meandered onward like old friends, weaving in and out of the mangroves growing closest to the shore while discussing their latest theories on what could have happened to the other unicorns of Acornum and where they could have gone.

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Kyari Alexiona sighed heavily as her feet touched down in the tall grass outside one of the Elfstone Confederation's citadels. She greatly enjoyed the plane of Acornum and its unique ecosystems, but the elves of the Elfstone Confederation confused her. They abandoned the forests, forsaking the magic of nature for the order and control allowed by enchantment and artifice. Trees were replaced with stone as their homes and they spilled out onto the seasonal floodplains, keeping water out of their cities with high walls. Greenery was absent from these elegant but sturdy fortresses. The only animals that inhabited them were birds.

Each city boasted hundreds of unique varieties of winged creature, from the massive rocs that nested in specially built aeries to the pigeons pecking at leftovers in the streets to the elegant owls that served as familiars to the various enchanters and wizards. If a beastmaster such as herself existed among the elves, they would only partially master the skies.

That wasn't entirely true, Kyari mused as she made her way towards the city. There were places where the elves were more like herself. Her sun-browned skin and sun-bleached hair were an anomaly among these elves, more characteristic of the forest-dwelling rebels that defected from the Elfstone Confederation. These rebels sought a return to the old ways of the elves, the ways of nature, of druidic and shamanic traditions. They cried out at diverted rivers, felled trees, drained swamps, and cobbled-over plains that marked the expansion of the confederation's borders. Each new settlement could become an act of war.

There had been war, of course. Kyari had read about it in the history books housed in each citadel's great library. It was these libraries that employed her for her skills as a naturalist. Pages upon pages of field notes on the ecosystems and specific species of Acornum were housed in these libraries. It wasn't easy for the scholars of the confederation to find a soul willing to leave the protection of the citadels and travel on foot through the lands controlled by dryads, faeries, and dwarves. It wasn't easy to find someone comfortable facing down a raging boar, an angry dragon, or even the treacherous creatures that inhabited the Black Bog. Kyari couldn't help but feel a little pride in herself for such bravery, but at the same time she couldn't deny the disgust in her heart. The elves of Shandalar would never behave so shamefully. She only hoped that through her scholarly works these elves would come to learn something.

"Brock would say I sound just like Tamiyo," she sighed, hanging her head. Kyari wasn't out to create a cultural revolution by herself, though. That wasn't her goal. That was the preservation and dissemination of knowledge about the natural world.

The gates to the citadel swung wide open for her as she waved to the guards. Kyari was well known to each city she visited after her long absences. She attributed these absences to expeditions and field research, but suspected there were members among the Elfstone Confederation's Enchanters, the ruling oligarch, who knew more of the Multiverse than they let on.

As she neared the library she heard a commotion coming from higher up in the citadel. Two voices, unmistakably belonging to Aelwe Patris, head of the Enchanters, and his daughter, Lanara, were obviously having a go at each other.

Lanara was a hotheaded young woman that greatly admired Kyari's work. Kyari longed to take on the girl as an apprentice naturalist but her father wouldn't hear of it. The upper classes had significantly less freedom of choice than the lower when it came to occupation. As a daughter of a noble house that was a member of the Enchanters, specifically being the younger sister of an older brother, Lanara's duty lay in securing political alliances.

The yelling stopped. Kyari began to count down from thirty in her mind. Lanara burst into the library in a whirlwind of tears and white-blonde curls, almost crashing into Kyari when the planeswalker had reached the number eight.

"Lanara, we're in the library," Kyari cautioned.

The sobs faded to sniffles as Kyari led the girl to an unoccupied private study room. The two elves sat down in comfortable wingback leather chairs while Lanara composed herself.

"What happened this time?" Kyari asked, leaning forward slightly. She absentmindedly reached into a nearby leyline and diverted a small amount of its flow around the emotional girl in front of her.

"My father, what else?" Lanara huffed. "You'd think in a world filled with magic and unicorns and such he wouldn't be so skeptical."

"Skeptical of what?" Kyari's interest was piqued. She could tell in the mana flow around Lanara that something had changed.

"I… I had a dream. I'm positive it was from Atalanta."

"The Hidden Treasure herself, huh?" Kyari prompted. "She only communicates through dreams, right? Being stuck on that island off the coast of dwarven territory?"

"Yeah," Lanara said. "That's right. I know this dream was from her. I know I need to do something about it, but father doesn't believe me. He thinks this is just another ploy to get out of the citadel and go shirk my responsibilities. I'm the only daughter of a noble house. Isn't this sort of thing supposed to happen to me?"

Kyari mulled over this information in her head. True, magic and the multiverse did have a tendency to pick oddly specific types of people for its various missions. She thought back to a conversation she'd had with Odom and Marthel about the multiverse being controlled by a soul that behaved like an author, choosing the characters that would create the most drama and entertainment for itself. Kyari didn't believe the multiverse was that cruel, however.

"I think that you need to do what you think is best," Kyari said. "Whatever that looks like is up to you. I'll give you my support if you need it, but I'm also not your parent and you aren't of age yet."

"I'm almost there," Lanara whined. "I've only got a few more years. Isn't that close enough for an elf? We live so long."

"Your father is also probably concerned about your safety. Rightfully so. Take it from someone who travels a lot, it can be very dangerous out there. You, especially, need to be careful because of who you are. I don't want to see you kidnapped by rebels and used as a bargaining chip." Kyari reached over and took Lanara's hand. "I view you like the younger sister I always wanted but never had."

"You've met rebels, haven't you Kyari?" Lanara asked eagerly. "What are they like? Where do they live? How does their magic work?"

"I can say they aren't fond of strangers, have no permanent settlements, and their magic works kind of like mine. Instead of working against natural forces, they work in concert with them."

"That must be beautiful to see… and to do." Lanara gazed wistfully into the middle distance.

Kyari had the sudden realization that Marthel and Odom might be right about the nature of the multiverse. They may at least be right about the soul of this plane. It seemed to enjoy a good story, regardless of the clichés involved.


End file.
